Fragment by Paul G Swanson (me reader .txt) 📕

dimplomacy room that was built into all ships of this type. He glanced around at the glass table in the center of the room and at the full service bar on the other side. He fininshed his scan of the room with a longing gaze at the two beds and sighed with pleasure.
"I take it you are satisfied with what you see." a grinning Psylix explained.
"I didn't think a person like you would have a room of this quality on a ship like this. No offense." Sarah responded as she recovered composher.
"None taken, I get a response like that plenty. No worries. Enjoy your stay. Dinner will be at six sharp. We shall be underway with your permission of course."
"All right lets get out this place." She paused for a moment slightly confused at his change in personality. "And Thank you, Psylix."
"Very well. Enjoy the room." He bowed slightly and stepped out of the room shutting the door behind him.

* * *

The next few hours passed rapidly as Sarah an Tio decided that instead of explore the ship as Psylix had expected they would simply resigned themselves to taking a nap. They awoke to a knock on the door.
"Sarah, Tio! We're there." It was Psylix calling them from on the other side of the door. "I thought you might want to see the approach. Meet us up top in the command lounge. I trust Tio likely knows the way on account of his fascination for spacecrafts.. See you soon." The heard him walk off as they each got out of their respective beds.
"Is he right in that assumption Tio?" Sarah asked him frowning.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know where he wants us to meet. Besides, this ship isn't THAT huge. You cant really get lost."
"Fair enough." She was satisfied with that answer. "It was pretty considerate of him to wake us and all that. I wonder if he's always this mannered, or if this is special treatment." She pondered this as Tio got up and walked to the door.
"There's no point in actually wondering about it. You're question will most likely answer itself eventually. He cant keep up an act forever after all. Are you coming or not?"
"Yeah, I'm coming."
They stepped through the door and took a right down the hallway. Tio expertly guided them up a chrome spiral staircase and down a hallway on the left to a slanted door that opened into a small elevator. The door slid shut behind them and the room rose slowly to the top of the ship. It opened to a small compartment with a sealed door only a few feet in front of them. Tio grunted as he spun the seal and opened the door. The two of them stepped into the room with six chairs in it. Two of the chairs facing the high pressure resistant glass were occupied by Moumoru and Psylix.
Tio watched silently from as distance as Moumoru expertly manipulated the digital controls for the ship. Pyslix snapped his fingers and a holographic display appeared under his right hand. He made a small adjustment and snapped again to make the menu vanish.
"Thats a pretty impressive control scheme you have there." Sarah commented. Psylix swung his chair around with a stupid grin on his face.
"Harder than it looks, trust me on that, but I'm not the pilot here. Its this dude. Best pilot I've ever met. Moumoru here's been my pilot for over four years now. Never had an unexpected accident." Sarah cocked her eyebrow.
"Define unexpected for me." She requested unhumoursly.
"Rough business. Put it that way. I'd rather than not go into details. Gets complicated if I do." Psylix smiled polity and motioned to glass in front of him. In the distance was a blue sphere about the size of a quarter and rapidly growing. "That would be Earth. Where are we landing about? I can give you weather conditions and outside temperatures. Not to mention I'd much rather land under clear skies. Its much less dangerous that way."
"United States, FL." She explained. "It was the north east section. On the coast. Not far from a river and a small waterway."
"You're going to have to be more specific than that." Psylix muttered dissagreably.
"No she won't, You'll see." Tio explained.
"Given the region you told me, the computer says based on assumed weather patterns it will be in the sixties under partly cloudy skies."
"Near Perfect for atmosheric landing conditions" Moumoru said finally speaking.

* * *

Moumoru brought the ship in closer to the planet and remained in orbit for a glimpse of the worlds condition. Clouds obscured his descent path. He always felt more comfortable being able to see his entire flight path before changing full force. His skill level with piloting the craft was far more than adequate should a emergency arise however he would rather not press his luck if not entirely necessary.
He watched the clouds swirl rapidly with the stratosphere. Below the entire saw Europe manifest from underneath the cloud cover. A large block of ice covered the entire continent. Sarah blinked in surprise at the sight of the snow white landmass.
"Is that a glacier? Thats not possible!" She stammered in shock. Putting her hand up to her head she blocked out sight and blinked rapidly trying to understand. Tio couldn't comprehend the sight either. It just wasn't possible. Glaciers move extremely slowly, it was as if hundreds of lifetimes had come and gone since humanity had fled. The monstrously gigantic block of ice should not have even shifted a noticeable distance even if a hundred years would have passed.
"Sarah, that isn't not possible, right?" Tio managed to ask in between gasps of air.
"Something wrong?" Asked Psylix, as he was completely unaware of the huge change. When he went unanswered he simply turned back to the screen to watch the planet. Clouds had re shrouded Europe. "Moumoru, are you ready to take us down?"
"Yeah, activating landing sequence now. Prepare yourselves. Grab something." He hesitated before adding, "This will be quite uncomfortable." Sarah was still in shock and only clasped the rungs on the wall when Psylix took her hand and moved it himself. Tio was more autonomous that she was and had already braced himself. "And down we go."
Sitting down in his own chair Psylix studied the graphs on the screen as they gained speed and flights angles fluctuated. Psylix could feel the many vibrations of the ship as it fell through the sky creating friction and displacing the many clouds that filled the skies of Earth. Visibility dropped as moisture on the monitors fogged up and created a opaque gray shroud through which only vague shapes could be seen.
Sarah and Tio felt Moumoru enjoying the speed of their descent. They could also tell he enjoyed making them nervous. In a moment of sheer abuse Moumoru spun the ship a full spin. The faster they went the larger his grin. This was his element and it clearly showed. He was like a maniac in his own world. As they descended quickly through the atmosphere like a bullet Psylix calmly asked Sarah where in the world they needed to land. He pointed to a global map and had her point it out. Each time she touched the screen it zoomed in closer to acquire a landing point closer to the exact location until the final point she selected was a mere mile away from the location they wanted to investigate. After that was done she instinctively re clutched the wall to steady herself within the rocking ship.
"All right! Here we go, Sarah are you ready?" Moumoru called out with his teeth showing through his wicked grin. "Its time to break the sound barrier with re-entry!" Without waiting for an answer he slammed his fist down on the console in front of him and thrust his hand that was gripping a joystick all the way forward. With his other hand he calmly pressed a button with the other. The ship gave a mighty lurch as it bounced against the atmospheres friction created a tremendous burst of speed and heat.
The force of the acceleration shocked Sarah enough the she was unable to withstand the G forces and was unable to keep her hands on the wall. She would have fallen against the floor if Psylix hadn't caught her the second he started to fall. Tio on the other hand was enjoying every moment of it just like Moumoru. He stood without assistance and was riding the ship like a surf board as it skidded in the air and sliced clouds apart.
A few minutes had passed before Moumoru eased off the throttle and the ship started to fly under three hundred mph. "ETA 5 minutes under terrestrial landing." Moumoru told Psylix and passengers on board via a intercom system. "Buckle all lose objects down. I cannot guarantee a smooth landing."
Psylix un tensed a little bit. "You could have entered a little slower, you know." He said as he released Sarah due to the speed reduction. What if there was an emergency?" He scolded.
"Oh please, since when has there ever been an accident when Iwas piloting, except for that ONE time?" Moumoru countered slyly.
"You crashed into a wall! And it wasn't even moving!"
"Its not like anyone was hurt! Just took some minor repairs."
"Thats not the point!"
"Come on. Take it easy on him Psylix." It was Somie, he entered through the hatch. "We've been on that colony for almost a month now. We've all got a bit of stress to relieve, even me." He gestured acceptingly at the pilot, "Thats just his way of letting some of it out. You cannot really fault him for that." He paused then added, "Especially since you know what you do for stress relief." Pylix fidgetted as if he didn't accept it.
"Ah, whatever. Next time just try not to scare the guests." Psylix answered then stampeded out of the room.

* * *

The ship rocketed across the landscape, gradually descending lower and lower. Its powerful engines spat vortexes of fire into the air creating shockwaves that emenated out into the surroundings. It descended until it was just above the vast ocean. No longer descending, Moumoru leveled the ship out just above sea level for his approach to the coat line. The wake behind the ship cut a swath in the ocean splitting it several feet.
Behind the ship, the water quickly refilled the gap. Large waves filled the gaps. Swirling torrents of water inturupted the tranquil calm sea. The ships wake was several hundred feet long. He could see a thick fog bank blocking the quickly advancing coastline. The radar systems however penetrated the thick shroud,